Raise a glass to OLD TIME GIN, 8/14/12 Super Tuesday champ

This week's Super Tuesday saw yet another large turnout with 433 entrants. That meant a total prize pool of $433,000, well over the tournament's $300K guarantee. The top 54 finishers got paid, with $83,092.70 due the winner.

They had just crossed the four-hour mark when 100 players remained, with Team PokerStars Online member Mickey "mement_mori" Petersen having just been eliminated in 112th by Ami "UhhMee" Barer and Team PokerStars Pro Richard Toth knocked out in 104th by kubik-rubik7. n00ki5 led all at that point with just under 50,000, with SamSquid, mendezoo, James "Asprin1" Akenhead, and Andrew "boytakas" Gaw all close behind.

Kevin "WizardOfAhhs" Thurman of Team Online was also still in the hunt, albeit with a short stack. Eventually, though, Thurman committed the last of his chips with A♣3♣ against Bonglim's A♦J♣, and after failing to improve hit the rail shy of the money in 77th.

The tourney continued, and once they crossed the five-and-a-half-hour mark the money bubble had been reached as just 55 remained. n00ki5 was still out in front, and after opening from middle position saw a short-stacked Chris "ImDaNuts" Oliver reraise all in from the blinds. n00ki5 quickly called, showing A♦K♦ to ImDaNuts' A♥Q♦, and five cards later Oliver was out in 55th.

That final elimination of slammedfire came in a wild three-way all in involving himself, Thiago "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima, and still-chip-leader n00ki5. Indeed, it was nearly a double-knockout... take a look:

Soon after the final table began it was Sckromnik opening with a 3x raise to 19,200 from early position and only Bulldog622 calling from the big blind. The flop came 7♦T♦3♥ and Bulldog622 led for 24,400. Sckromnik made it 48,800 to go, Bulldog622 reraised all in for 96,945 total, and Sckromnik called.

Bulldog622 had 9♦9♠ and needed help against Sckromnik's J♣J♦. But the turn was the T♣ and river the Q♣, and Bulldog622 was out in ninth.

It wasn't long after that one that Sckromnik was again raising from early position, this time for 2x (12,800), and watched as Pizdariki reraised all in for 125,254 total from the cutoff. It folded to Thiago "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima in the small blind who reshoved all in over the top for a little over 280,000, and the big blind and Sckromnik both stepped aside.

XTheDecanoX: A♣A♥Pizdariki: J♦J♠

A bad time for Pizdariki to pick up pocket jacks. Things got worse for Pizdariki after the T♠A♠9♥ flop, and the 2♣ on the turn made the river 8♠ no matter, sending Pizdariki railward in eighth.

The blinds had moved to 3,600/7,200 when Matias "Festivuss" Gabrenja open-pushed for 90,421 from UTG+1, then "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima called from a couple of seats over. OLD TIME GIN then reraised all in for nearly a quarter million chips from the button, forcing the blinds to fold. XTheDecanoX called the reshove, however, and the three players showed their cards.

Nishijima had A♠J♥, OLD TIME GIN T♣T♠, and Gabrenja 5♥5♣. The board rolled out 2♠T♦8♥7♦A♣, giving OLD TIME GIN a set and the entire pot while knocking Festivuss from the tournament in seventh.

That hand bumped OLD TIME GIN up into the lead with a little over 600,000, then better than second-place n00ki5's stack of almost 537,000.

The final six battled into Level 33 (blinds 4,000/8,000), during which stretch all in 2526, n00ki5, and Sckromnik all pushed ahead of OLD TIME GIN to create a close four-way race for first. That's when OLD TIME GIN opened for 16,000 from early position, then DarrenB25 reraised all in for 110,021 from a seat over. It folded to n00ki5 in the small blind who reraise-shoved all in, forcing folds from the big blind and OLD TIME GIN.

n00ki5 turned over A♣K♦ and was ahead of DarrenB25's A♠7♠. And when the five community cards came 4♥3♦8♠A♦T♠, n00ki5's hand was still best and DarrenB25 had been eliminated in sixth.

all in 2526 would be the next player eliminated. With the blinds at 4,500/9,000, all in 2526 went all in from the button for 148,377 with A♠8♥ and got called by OLD TIME GIN waiting in the big blind with 6♦6♠. The board came 7♣Q♥T♥K♥K♦, and all in 2526 was all out in fifth place.

A little later the blinds were up to 5,000/10,000 when Thiago "XTheDecanoX" Nishijima open-pushed for 140,098 from the cutoff and n00ki5 called from the big blind. n00ki5 had 8♥8♠ and Nishijima A♠3♣. The flop was 5♦8♣7♣, giving n00ki5 a set. The 2♠ fell on the turn, giving XTheDecanoX a gutshot to a wheel, but the river was the T♥ and they were down to three.

The final trio battled for a while, with all three nearly even when a huge hand arose between OLD TIME GIN and n00ki5. The pair traded preflop raises until OLD TIME GIN was all in and n00ki5 only barely covering. OLD TIME GIN had J♥J♠ and n00ki5 4♣4♥, and the better pair held. Take a look:

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Cripped after that one, n00ki5 doubled once but was soon all in for 15,858 with K♠3♦ against OLD TIME GIN's A♠6♣, and five cards later -- J♠4♦T♥9♣8♠ -- just two players remained.

Heads-up play began with OLD TIME GIN enjoying about a 2-to-1 chip lead with 1,410,136 to Sckromnik's 754,864. Sckromnik would soon battle back, however, and shortly after the tourney crossed the 10-hour mark had pulled essentially even with OLD TIME GIN.

OLD TIME GIN would swiftly retake the advantage, however, and over the next half-hour whittled Sckromnik down to a stack of just over 400,000, thereby building a better than 4-to-1 advantage.

Then with the blinds at 8,000/16,000, a hand arose in which Sckromnick raised to 32,000 from the button and OLD TIME GIN called. The flop came 5♣7♠K♠ and both players checked. The turn brought the 3♠ and a bet of 48,000 from OLD TIME GIN. Sckromnik responded by raising to 212,000, and OLD TIME GIN came back with an all-in shove which Sckromnik called.

OLD TIME GIN showed Q♠T♠ for a queen-high flush. Meanwhile Sckromnik had but K♣4♣ for kings and a worthless straight draw, meaning Sckromnik was drawing dead when the Q♥ river fell.

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Congratulations to OLD TIME GIN for toppling this week's Super Tuesday field and grabbing a better than $83K first prize!

You can tell the WCOOP is just around the corner, as there was a lot of chatbox chatter in tonight's tourney regarding the 65-event line-up that begins in less than three weeks. Check out the WCOOP site for details.